Vortex generator for a wind turbine

ABSTRACT

A blade for a wind turbine having an airfoil with a thickness of at least 20% and in particular at least 25% including a vortex generator pair between chord wise position 20% c and 70% c, the vortex generator pair including 2 not directly connected fins and a base which interconnects the fins and where the fins are placed under opposite angles of attack. The fins are cambered by at least 1% in particular by at least 2% and more particularly by a least 3% of the fin chord. According to an embodiment the base of the vortex generator pair is W-shaped, the fins of a pair are designed to generate contra rotating vortices and the distance between the suction sides of the fins is approximately 150% of that between the pressure sides and the trailing part of the fins is rounded so that non-concentrated vortices are generated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the U.S. national phase of PCT Application No.PCT/NL2014/000028 filed on Sep. 1, 2014, which claims priority to NLPatent Application No. 1040365 filed on Sep. 2, 2013, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated in their entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is related to airfoils of wind turbines, planes orhelicopters, meant for the generation of aerodynamic lift.

BACKGROUND

Both wind turbines, planes and helicopters are using airfoils which needto have a high lift coefficient and good lift/drag performance. It isstate of the art to apply vortex generators to existing airfoils sinceit is known that this will increase the maximum lift coefficient.However even after much research efforts, the use of vortex generatorshas not shown a breakthrough development since it is associated with thefollowing problems.

The performance of an airfoil can be expressed by the lift coefficientand the lift over drag ratio. The precise required values depend on thetechnical application of the airfoil, however in general, when theapplication of vortex generators is considered, the designer has anairfoil without vortex generators which performs well up to a certainangle of attack (α_(NVG)), and wants to extend the good performancerange beyond α_(NVG) by using vortex generators. This can be realizedwith classical vortex generators, however, for angle of attack belowα_(NVG), the lift over drag ratio decreases substantially. This isusually not acceptable. For example in WO90/11929 by Wheeler a largenumber of geometries is proposed. This publication does not disclosewhich geometry would give acceptable performance. It was shown that thegeometries revealed by Wheeler in FIGS. 1 and 2 and 4 did not provideairfoil performance which was better than that of airfoils withoutvortex generators. Also WO00/15961 discloses several geometries whichare shown not to give acceptable performance.

A second problem is that the attachment of vortex generators oftenfails. Vortex generators usually exist of baseplates with one or morefins which are glued on the airfoil surface. In the practice of windturbines the vortex generators come loose within weeks or a few years.It was tried to increase the size of the base so that the attachmentarea was increased. This idea did not give better fixation. For examplein EP 2031243A1 by LM a radical solution was proposed by submergingvortex generators in the airfoil surface. However it should be notedthat airfoil have to pass through high bending moments, which means thatthe surface experiences high stress and thus that a discontinuity in thesurface such as is proposed by LM is unacceptable. Another attempt wasto produce strips with multiple vortex generator pairs so that manyvg-fins could be applied quickly and the full strip surface was fixed byadhesive. Strips of plastic and of aluminium have been applied on manyrotor blades but came loose within a few weeks-years. Also the fixationof the strips with high quality silicone based adhesive did not improvethe situation.

A third problem is that the vortex generator should be resistant to allpossible weather conditions, which also sets shape demands. For examplea thickness of 2-5 mm or more in particular 3-4 mm is required forstandard plastics to have long term UV-resistance. Such thickness causethe vortex generator to become stiff so that it cannot adapt to theshape of the airfoil surface. Furthermore such thickness for thebaseplate of the vortex generator means that the flow has to step up andstep down the baseplate over at least the 2-5 mm and it means that thevortex generator fins need to be relatively thick which all leads topoor aerodynamic performance. Another attempt to solve this problem wasto place the vg-strips in a recess in the blade surface. The aim was toreduce the aerodynamic drag caused by the strips when place on top ofthe surface. In practice, however, it was not feasible to produce therecess and the vg-strips so accurately that, the blade surface wassmooth with the vg-strips positioned in the recess. Furthermore, thesevgs did come loose quickly and the recess in the blade surface reducedbuilding height and caused cracks in the surface.

A fourth problem is that the vortex generator should be easilyapplicable and should be shaped such that objects would not become stuckby the vortex generator fins and should not be intrusive in the airfoil.In the practice of wind energy often triangular shaped vortex generatorfins are applied since this shape is proven to generate strong vortices,however, the sharp edges could injure service personnel and obstructhoisting belts. It is clear that this problem also sets demands on theshape so that it becomes even more difficult to obtain anaerodynamically optimized shape. It is known from fundamentaltheoretical analysis and not doubted that strong vortices are generatedwhen a bound aerodynamic circulation suddenly stops. This is why thesharp-edge triangular form and also a sharp-edge rectangular form cannotbe avoided when strong concentrated vortices are required. So the expertin the art has not much room to solve the problems.

In the light of the above problems, it needs explanation why vortexgenerators are often applied to stall regulated wind turbines. Thereason is that many stall regulated turbines suffered from largeunderperformance and that the application of vortex generators couldsolve this to a large extent. However the solution was not durable sincethe vortex generators came loose. Therefore, designers of wind turbinesput effort in new blade and airfoil designs which did not require vortexgenerators. This design method was rather successful and therefore windturbines typically do not have have vortex generators.

SUMMARY

The aim of the invention is to overcome the above mentioneddisadvantages.

According to one embodiment, the invention is an airfoil of chord c witha thickness of more than 20% c and in particular of more than 25% ccomprising a vortex generator pair between chordwise position 20% c and70% c, the vortex generator pair comprising two not directly connectedfins and a base which interconnects said fins and where said fins areplaced under opposite angles of attack, characterized in that the finsare cambered by at least 1% in particular by at least 2% and moreparticularly by a least 3% of the fin chord. The camber of the finsresulted in better aerodynamic performance and gave stiffness to thefins at the same time. The fins could be made very thin without becomingtoo flexible due to the camber. And thinner fins require less material.Furthermore, thanks to the camber of the fins, the baseplate becomesflexible and can follow a range of curvatures of the airfoil surfacewhere the vortex generator pair is attached. In case of uncambered fins,the baseplate becomes very stiff and has only one fixed curvature.Conclusively, the camber of the fins also improves the attachment of thevortex generator pair to the surface. Amazingly, the addition of camberto the fins leads to 4 advantages: better aerodynamics, better fixation,high stiffness of the fins and low material use.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the airfoil is suitable forplanes and helicopters, including airfoils of less than 20% c thicknesswhen the vortex generator pair is attached between 20% c and 50% c.

A breakthrough thought was that the classical idea that a vortexgenerator should generate concentrated strong vortices turned out to beincorrect. Instead, it was found that non-concentrated vorticity is evenmore effective and thus that fins which have a rounded trailing edgelead to better airfoil performance. The vortex generator is effective bymixing high-speed air from outside the boundary layer with low-speed airinside the boundary layer (this is known) and by transporting low-speedair from inside the boundary layer to outside the boundary layer (thisis new). This second effect is stronger when vorticity is notconcentrated but rather distributed and when vortex generator pairs areapplied of which the fins generate opposite vorticity.

Therefore, according to an embodiment of the invention, the lateral areaof the trailing half of the fins of the vortex generator is less than45% and in particular less than 40% of the product of the fin chord andthe fin height.

An amazing conclusion was that the thought that the fixation problem ofthe vgs could be solved by enlarging the base was wrong and that insteadthe fixation improved by reducing the base plate and choosing a shapewhich allows thermal expansion.

A beneficial embodiment of the invention is a base shaped like a ‘U’, a‘V’ or a ‘W’ and that the base is essentially not extending beyond thearea between the fins. Those, shapes also lead to better aerodynamicperformance. More benefit is obtained when the base comprises twosubfins that are smaller than the main fins and are located between themain fins. The height of the subfins is typically between 5% and 30% ofthe main fins.

More benefit is obtained when the distance measured half-way the finchord between the suction sides of adjacent main fins of differentvortex generator pairs is at least 120% and preferably about 150% of thedistance between pressure sides of adjacent main fins of a vortexgenerator pair.

According to a beneficial embodiment of the invention, the largestlength in lateral direction in solid base material is less than 100% inparticular less than 90% and more in particular less than 70% of thebottom fin chord.

According to another beneficial embodiment of the invention, the edgelength of the base has an angle with the design inflow direction between50 and 0 degrees over more than 70%, in particular more than 80%, andmore in particular 90% of its length.

According to another beneficial embodiment of the invention, the base isfixed to the airfoil surface by double-sided adhesive tape with athickness of at least 0.3%, for example at least 0.5% and for exampleabout 1% of the largest length in solid baseplate material.

According to another beneficial embodiment of the invention, the vortexgenerator pair and the airfoil surface form a solid body without voidsor air inclusions.

According to another beneficial embodiment of the invention, the heightof the main fins is between 2% c and 6% c.

According to another beneficial embodiment of the invention, the airfoilthickness can be less than 20% c thickness in case it should be robustfor surface contamination.

According to a further beneficial embodiment of the invention, theairfoil comprises a vortex generator pair and two fins, characterized inthat the lateral area of the trailing 50% of said fins is less than 200%and preferably less than 150% of the lateral area of the leading 50% ofsaid fins.

A car roof top container should have a shape which provides a largevolume, which has the drawback that the container adds much aerodynamicdrag to a car and therefore increases fuel consumption. This problem canbe solved by the application of vortex generators to the containeraccording to any of the following embodiments:

-   -   1. Car roof top container characterized in that it comprises        vortex generators and that its lateral cross section at 95%        length is less than 60% of its maximum lateral cross section.    -   2. Car roof top container according to embodiment 1        characterized in that the lateral cross section at 95% length is        less than 50%, in particular less than 40% and more in        particular less than 30% of the maximum lateral cross section.    -   3. Car roof top container according to embodiment 1 or 2        characterized in that the vortex generators are located in the        length range between 40% L and 90% L.    -   4. Car roof top container according to embodiment 1 or 2        characterized in that the vortex generators are located near the        length position of maximum lateral cross section or not further        than 10% length forward of not further than 20% length position        backward.    -   5. Car roof top container according to any of the preceding        claims comprising vortex generators which are attached as        separate elements or are integrated with said container.    -   6. Car roof top container according to any of the preceding        embodiments comprising vortex generators which are at or below        the maximum height of said container.    -   7. Car roof top container optionally according to any of the        preceding embodiments comprising flow guidance elements for the        supports.    -   8. Car roof top container according to embodiment 7 comprising        flow guidance elements.    -   9. Car roof top container according to any of the preceding        claims wherein the angle of the surface of the rear end is more        than 20 degrees and in particular more than 25 degrees over at        least 20% L.

In order to explain the invention further some definitions areintroduced.

Camber: camber can refer to an airfoil section of the blade or to a finof a vortex generator (vg). In the first case it is the maximum distancebetween the chord line of the airfoil and the camber line in percent ofthe chord. In the case of the vg fin it analogously refers to themaximum distance between the camber line and the fin chord line, whereboth lines are taken at 30% of the fin height above the blade surfaceand wherein the fin height is the maximum height of the fin above theblade surface.Fin-chord: the chord of the fin of a vg at 10% of the fin height abovethe blade surface. The bottom-fin-chord is defined as the length overwhich the fin is connected to the base.Edge-length of base: the total length of the contour of the projectionof the base on the blade surface.Distance between fins: the distance between fins refers to the distancebetween the highest fins or the main fins of a vortex generator pair.

Other embodiments according to the invention are the following:

That wherein the vortex generator exists of a separate base and separatefins which can be connected by a click-joint. For example, for thetransportation of wind turbine blades it is beneficial when the fins canbe installed after the blades are at the site.

That wherein the fin of a vortex generator pair has a trailing partwhich is loose from the base so that is flexes by the flow: at high-flowspeeds this part could be aligned with the flow while at low-flow speedsit is inclined with the flow by, e.g. 10, degrees so that strongvortices are created. Also the inclination to the flow can be a functionof temperature by using a bi-metal. This could be beneficial to delaystall at high temperatures and advance it at lower temperatures tocompensate for air temperature dependence of stall power levels of stallcontrolled wind turbines.

That wherein the fins of vortex generator pairs are controlledautomatically for example by magnetic actuators below the airfoilsurface which control the position or orientation of the fins.

That wherein the cross section of a fin has a J-shape, where the lowerpart of the J is connected to the airfoil surface and the vertical partof the J is the protruding fin, so that the fin can be pushed againstthe airfoil surface by taking away the curvature of the J.

That wherein the fins of a vortex generator pair are essentially alignedwith tangentials about the rotor axis, so that the angle of attack ofthe fins is close to zero in case of 2D-flow but increases with anincreasing radial component in the flow which means that the angle ofattack is low when the blade surface is clean and that the angle ofattack increases with increasing surface contamination since the highercontamination leads a thicker boundary layer and thus to a larger radialcomponent in the flow by the radial pressure gradient and thecentrifugal force.

That wherein the vortex generator pair is applied to a wind turbineblade and the spacing between vortex generator pairs is larger than 10%c and in particular larger than 20% c and more in particular larger than30% c, where the spacing is measured from the centre of a pair to thecentre of an adjacent pair.

That wherein the vortex generator pair is made of a material essentiallyconsisting of PVC or PVDF or aluminium. The fixation of the vortexgenerator pair to an airfoil of a plane can be done by welding, screws,pop-nails, double-sided adhesive tape.

That wherein the vortex generator pair comprises a base of which thelower side is concave so that it fits well to the convex suction side ofthe airfoil and in particular that the radius of curvature of theconcave bottom side is less than the radius of curvature of the convexsuction side.

That wherein the vortex generator base and double sided adhesive arejoint with a primer under controlled conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Lift coefficient improvement by vortex generator.

FIG. 2: Lift/drag ratio improvement by vortex generator.

FIG. 3: Airfoil with 3 vortex generator pairs.

FIG. 4: Side view of a vortex generator pair.

FIG. 5A: Front view of a vortex generator pair.

FIG. 5B: Top view of a vortex generator pair without cambered fins.

FIG. 5C: Top view of a vortex generator pair with cambered fins.

FIG. 6: Top view of a W-shaped vortex generator pair.

FIG. 7: Top view of a U-shaped vortex generator pair.

FIG. 8: Top view of a V-shaped vortex generator pair.

FIG. 9: Car roof top container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows the lift coefficient c₁ as a function of the angle ofattack of a 40% thick airfoil. It can be seen that the lift coefficientfor the case with vortex generators installed at 30% c (label VG30 cl)is (much) higher in the range from 0 to 26 degrees compared to theresult without vortex generators (label NVG cl). FIG. 2 shows the ratioof lift over drag for the same configuration. It can be seen that L/D is(much) better for the angle of attack range between 2 and 22 degrees.The results are obtained by CFD-simulation.

FIG. 3 shows an airfoil 1 with chord 2 and three vortex generator pairs3 which are installed on the airfoil surface 6. The vortex generatorpairs are shown on a larger scale than the airfoil for illustrativereasons. The airfoil 1 includes a leading edge 30, a trailing edge 32,and oppposing first and second surfaces 34, 36 extending between theedges 30, 32.

The vortex generator pairs 3 may be attached to the first surface 34.Each vortex generator pair has two fins 5 and a base 4 which are onlylabelled for one vortex generator pair, also labelled for one vortexgenerator pair in FIG. 3. The distance 8 between the pressure sides 42of the fins of a vortex generator pair 3 is less than the distance 9between the suction sides 44 of the adjacent fins of different vortexgenerator pairs.

FIG. 4 shows a side view of a vortex generator pair which is fixed bydouble-sided adhesive tape which has an adhesive layer 10 fixed to thebase of the vortex generator pair and an adhesive layer 11 fixed to theairfoil surface 6 and a foam layer 12 in between. The thickness oflayers 10, 11 and 12 are shown thicker than realistic for illustrativereasons. The fin chord 39 is taken at 10% of the fin height.

Each of the suction surfaces 44 has a leading half 46 and a trailinghalf 48 relative to the design inflow direction 14. The surface area ofthe trailing half 48 may be less than 200% of the surface area of theleading half 46 to provide a more symmetrical fin. In other embodiments,the surface area of the trailing half 48 may be less than 150% of thesurface area of the lead half 46.

FIG. 5A shows a front view of a vortex generator looking at the pressuresides 42 of the fins 5. The height of the fins 45 is the maximum heightabove the blade surface 6 and includes the adhesive tape 43. In FIG. 5Ba vortex generator pair with base 47 has fins 44 which are not cambered,however, the fins may be cambered in other embodiments as shown in FIG.5C. Referring to FIG. 5C, the fins 45 have a camber 51 of at least 1% ofthe fin chord, or in other embodiments, at least 2% or 3% of the finchord. The camber of the fins resulted in better aero dynamicperformance and gave stiffness to the fins 45 at the same time. The fins45 could be made very thin without becoming too flexible due to thecamber. And thinner fins require less material. Furthermore, thanks tothe camber of the fins, the baseplate 4 becomes flexible and can followa range of curvatures of the airfoil surface where the vortex generatorpair is attached. The base has leading edge 54 and trailing edge 56which together form the edge length. The angle 47 is the angle betweenthe design inflow direction 14 and the edge along the edge length.

FIG. 6 shows a top view of a W-shaped vortex generator pair and thedesign inflow direction 14. The lateral direction is defined asperpendicular to the design inflow direction and in the base plane ofthe vortex generator pair. The base 4 may include a leading edge 54 anda trailing edge 56. The leading edge 54 includes multiple edges, thatare interconnected to form a continuous edge extending between theleading edges 38 of the fins 5, also the trailing edge 56 includesmultiple edges to form a continuous edge extending between the trailingedges 40 of the fins 5. In the W-shaped embodiment, the base has foursurfaces, or segments such as surfaces 57, 58, 59, and surface 60. Thesurfaces 58 and 60 are interconnected at a vortex 61 and extendoutwardly away from each other towards the trailing edge 56. This causesthe surface 58 and 60 to extend towards the fins 5 and to be angled in adirection opposite to their corresponding fin. The surfaces 58 and 60may be referred to as subfins.

FIG. 7 shows a top view of a U-shaped vortex generator pair. FIG. 8shows a top view of a V-shaped vortex generator pair. FIG. 9 shows a carroof top container 20, with a length L between the front end 21 and arear end 22, whereon a vortex generator fin 23 is installed. The uppersurface of the trailing part of the container 24 has an angle 25 withthe horizontal.

Although the illustrative embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings,it will be understood that the invention is not limited to thoseembodiments. Various changes or modifications may be effected by oneskilled in the art without departing from the scope or the spirit of theinvention as defined in the claims. Furthermore the validity of theclaims is not dependent on the correctness of physical explanations.

It is to be understood that in the present application, the term“comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps. Also, each of theterms “a” and “an” does not exclude a plurality. Any reference sign(s)in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope of theclaims.

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended thatthese embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather,the words used in the specification are words of description rather thanlimitation, and it is understood that various changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may becombined to form further embodiments of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A wind turbine comprising: a blade having aleading edge, a trailing edge, and opposing first and second surfacesextending between the edges; and a vortex generator pair including: aplanar base attached to the first surface, wherein the base is W-shaped,V-shaped, or U-shaped, and first and second spaced apart fins extendingoutwardly from opposing portions of the base such that the first andsecond fins are not touching each other to define an air gap definedbetween the first and second fins and extending completely over thebase, the first and second fins each having a leading edge, a trailingedge, a suction side and a pressure side, each of the suction sideshaving a trailing half and a leading half, wherein a surface area of thetrailing half is less than 200 percent of a surface area of the leadinghalf.
 2. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the surface area of thetrailing half is less than 150 percent of the surface area of theleading half.
 3. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the first andsecond fins are angled relative to each other such that a distancebetween the leading edges of the first and second fins is greater than adistance measured between the trailing edges.
 4. The wind turbine ofclaim 1, wherein the first and second fins define an area in between andthe base covers less than 90% of this area.
 5. The wind turbine of claim1, wherein each of the first and second fins are cambered inwardly. 6.The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the vortex generator pair islocated on the blade at a radial position and is located at a bladechord-wise position that is between 20 to 70 percent of a chord of theblade at the radial position.
 7. A wind turbine comprising: a bladehaving a leading edge, a trailing edge, and opposing first and secondsurfaces extending between the edges; and a vortex generator pairincluding: a planar base attached to the first surface and havingopposing first and second edge portions, wherein the base is W-shaped,V-shaped, or U-shaped, and first and second spaced apart fins extendingoutwardly from the first and second edge portions, respectively, thefirst and second fins being completely spaced apart to define an air gapextending over the base.
 8. The wind turbine of claim 7 furthercomprising a second vortex generator pair, having a same structure asthe vortex generator pair, disposed on the first surface at a radiallyspaced position relative to the vortex generator pair.
 9. The windturbine of claim 8, wherein a distance between the vortex generator pairand the second vortex generator pair is greater than a width of thevortex generator pair.
 10. The wind turbine of claim 7, each of the finshaving a leading edge, a trailing edge, a suction side and a pressureside, wherein a surface area of the trailing half is less than 200percent of a surface area of the leading half.
 11. The wind turbine ofclaim 10, wherein the surface area of the trailing half is less than 150percent of the surface area of the leading half.
 12. The wind turbine ofclaim 10, wherein each of the fins are cambered inwardly by at least 1percent of the chord of the fin.
 13. The wind turbine of claim 7,wherein the first and second fins are angled relative to each other suchthat a distance between the leading edges of the first and second finsis greater than a distance measured between the trailing edges.
 14. Awind turbine comprising: a blade having a leading edge, a trailing edge,and opposing first and second surfaces extending between the edges; anda vortex generator pair including: a base attached to the first surface,the base defining a trailing edge, and a leading edge together forming atotal edge length, wherein the base is W-shaped, V-shaped, or U-shaped,and first and second spaced apart fins extending outwardly from opposingportions of the base such that the first and second fins are nottouching each other to define an air gap defined between the first andsecond fins and extending over the base, wherein the vortex generatorpair includes an inflow direction, and at least 70% of the total edgelength is angled relative to the inflow direction by 50 degrees or less.15. The wind turbine of claim 14, wherein at least 80% of total edgelength is angled relative to the inflow direction by 50 degrees or less.16. The wind turbine of claim 14, wherein each of the suction surfaceshas a trailing half and a leading half wherein a surface area of thetrailing half is less than 200 percent of a surface area of the leadinghalf.
 17. The wind turbine of claim 14, wherein the base is planar. 18.The wind turbine of claim 14, wherein the first and second fins areangled relative to each other such that a distance between the leadingedges of the first and second fins is greater than a distance measuredbetween the trailing edges.